Huge New Mexico Wildfire Spotted by NASA Satellite

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A NASA Earth-observing satellite has snapped a photo of the huge
wildfire chewing up vast swathes of southwestern New Mexico.

The Whitewater-Baldy fire, which was sparked by a lightning
strike on May 16, has burned roughly 377 square miles (976 square
kilometers) as of today (June 4), making it the largest wildfire
in New Mexico history. NASA's Aqua spacecraft captured a view of
the
conflagration from space, showing vast plumes of smoke
billowing over the rugged Gila National Forest near the borders
with Arizona and Mexico.

Aqua took the photo on May 29 with its Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, NASA officials
said.

More than 1,000 firefighters have been battling the blaze, which
remains less than 20 percent contained. The area's rugged terrain
has hampered progress, as have strong winds.

Though Whitewater-Baldy is big, it currently pales in comparison
to some other wildfires that have torched the continental United
States. For example, last year's
Wallow Fire — which spread from an unattended campfire in
eastern Arizona — burned 841 square miles (2,178 square km).

The great Yellowstone fire of 1988 burned nearly three times that
much land, scorching roughly 2,340 square miles (6,060 square km)
across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, including much of Yellowstone
National Park. And a 1910 blaze in Idaho and Montana covered
about 4,700 square miles (12,173 square km), killing nearly 90
people in the process.

Before Whitewater-Baldy grew so large, New Mexico's biggest
wildfire had been the Las Conchas blaze, which burned 244 square
miles (632 square km) in 2011 in the northern part of the state.

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